Madonna, a true star or just a shrewd businesswomen?

[Imogen]

Mentioning Madonna in my post on the favourite 80's music thread got me to thinking about her in more detail. For the past 10 years I've grown to dislike this woman as an artist. My personal opinion is that she is shallow, and is obsessed with her image to the point that the continuing manufacture and maintainence of that image is her top priority, even at the expense of relationships. I loved Madonna in the 80's and most of the 90's and I think that Ray of Light is one of her best albums... but apart from the song 'Hung Up' and 'Don't Tell Me' I've not enjoyed her music over the past couple of years.

But I have to give her credit.. she is without a doubt the most successful female artist of all time. So am I being too hard on her now?

Peace

[lolar2]

I always liked her music in the 80s and 90s. I think she has some real musical sense. But I am not familiar with her music of the past decade. In the 90s I was at a classical music conservatory and we all thought Madonna was pretty good.

[Debstmomy]

I think her time has come and gone. There are much better female artists out there now, ie Pink, and new the gal, Adele.
In order for Madonna to keep up she has to keep reinventing herself, which in fact, lessens the quality of music she puts out these days. JMHO.

[journeymom]

She's both. She has both qualities: True Star and Shrewd Business Woman and they support each other and have led to her success.

If she were simply an 'authentic' arteest with no business sense she would have come and gone years ago. And I think she's always been a business woman, even in the 80s. But she was still fresh and totally new, breaking entertainment taboos.

I have no idea about her recent stuff (past 15 years) because I lost interest. My tastes changed, and that had more to do with that than the quality of her music.

I understand she puts on a great live show. She's an entertainer.

[Arduinna]

Why would reinventing yourself lessen the quality of your music>?

[Imogen]

Originally Posted by journeymom

She's both. She has both qualities: True Star and Shrewd Business Woman and they support each other and have led to her success.

If she were simply an 'authentic' arteest with no business sense she would have come and gone years ago. And I think she's always been a business woman, even in the 80s. But she was still fresh and totally new, breaking entertainment taboos.

I have no idea about her recent stuff (past 15 years) because I lost interest. My tastes changed, and that had more to do with that than the quality of her music.

I understand she puts on a great live show. She's an entertainer.

I have to say, her live shows are very good. The energy she puts in to them cannot be faulted.

[Debstmomy]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

Why would reinventing yourself lessen the quality of your music>?

Originally Posted by journeymom

I have no idea about her recent stuff (past 15 years) because I lost interest. My tastes changed, and that had more to do with that than the quality of her music.

I understand she puts on a great live show. She's an entertainer.

Ok, perhaps it is me that has lost interest, and not that the quality of her music has changed.

Journeymom, I agree with all that you stated above!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

Why would reinventing yourself lessen the quality of your music>?

I think it depends on how and why one reinvents oneself, yk? If you're reinventing yourself, because time has passed and your vision has changed, your music may get better than ever. If you're reinventing yourself, because time passed, and you realized that your vision is out of step with commercial success...probably not so much.